History

A History of the Dargah Sharif (SHRINE) of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty Ajmeri (R.A.) The first recorded visit to to the Dargah Sharif (SHRINE) of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty Ajmeri (R.A.) was Muhammad Bin Tughluq in 1332. In the first year of the reign of Firuz Shah Tughluq (1351-2) the important Chishty, Zain al-din, the khalifa of Burhan al-din Chishty, who was himself the khalifa of Hazrat Nizam al-din Awliya, made a pilgrimage to Ajmer. A further reference to regular pilgrimage to Ajmer in the latter half of the fourteenth century occurs in the conversations of Syed Muhammad Gesudaraz recoreded in 1399-1400 AD. Gesudaraz was talking about his refusal to impart further instructions to one Hazrat Khwaja Hisamuddin, who had previously received Sufi teaching from other Shaikhs. An unnamed darvish approached Gesudaraz and gave him a resume of what he might have imparted to him. This included an injuction to perform the ziyarat of the Panj Pirs (five pirs) who, as explained in the anecdote, are the five great Chishty ShaIkhs who preceded Gesudaraz, viz. Hazrat Khwaja Nasiruddin, Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin, Hazrat Khwaja Fariduddin, Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin,and Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin.Between the death of Firuz Shah Tughluq (1388) and the invasion of Timur (1398), Zafar Khan, progenitor of the Sultans of Gujarat, made the pilgrimage to Ajmer from Nandalgarh. He dismounted at a distance of 3 koos from Ajmer and went on foot to the shrine where he performed the appropriate ceremonies. The Khiljis of Malwa and Mandu has close connections with the shrine in the last half of the fifteenth century. Sultan Mahmud Khilji visited Ajmer in 1455. The Muslim population of Ajmer resented their governor, so Mahmud marched on Ajmer. On the fifth day he captured the fort and appointed his own governor. ‘He then paid his respects to the shrine and distributed offerings among its attendants in thanks giving for his successful campaign. Sultan Mahmud Khilji also built a mosque near the shrine, known as the Sandal Khana especially for the Khadims as at that time the only population present was that of Khadims. At that time there was still no proper mausoleum to house the tomb of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin. According to ‘Abd al-Haqq Dihlawi, it was Hazrat Shaykh Husain Nagauri, a descendant of Hazrat Khwaja Hamid al-din Nagauri and pir of Sultan Ghiyas al-din Khilji, who first remedied this situation. Sultan Ghiyasuddin Khilji (1469-1500) himself was a devotee of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin and it was almost certainly he who funded the construction of the Buland Darwaza, one of the ceremonial gates of the dargah, and so-called because of its great height. The Buland Darwaza is sometimes attributed to Sultan Alauddin Khilji, some refer today to it as the ‘Ala I Darwaza ‘ but this is unlikely, and is no doubt the result of a confusion between the Khiljis of Malwa and Mandu, and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi (1298-1316). The Buland Darwaza, can, therefore, more acceptably be attributed to Ghiyas al-din Khilji. At the beginning of the sixteenth century Maulana Jamali, author of Siyar al-Arifin, undertook the pilgrimage to Ajmer. He refers to the existence of families of attendants long established at the shrine, and the significant quantity of gifts brought to it by Hindus as well as Muslims.

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